Julie Riekes started K9 Nose Work in January 2013 with her Australian Cattle Dog mix Amber.  She and Amber received the Harry Award in January 2014 and caught the nose work “bug”, eventually traveling the country to compete and attend nose work seminars and camps. She trains regularly with Amy Herot, Founder of NACSW, Kim Buchanan and Barbara Schwerdt, Founding instructors of NACSW, in Los Angeles where she currently teaches K9 Nose Work classes.

Julie is also a NACSW trial host through JavaK9s and has hosted many trials in the Southern California area.  In addition, she serves as a mentor to new trial hosts, a volunteer coordinator for fellow hosts, is an NACSW trial coordinator, and is a NACSW Certifying Official.  She has taught at Dogs Of Course Nose Work camp, in person as well as at virtual camp.  She also works in the NACSW education division and served on the CNWI Manual Task Force.

Julie and Amber are one of the few teams in the country to have their ELT-CH title and six Summit titles. They consistently received top overall placements and search placements in NACSW Elite trials and achieved first place overall at six out of the ten Summit trials they have competed in.  In addition, they came in first place overall at the 2022 AKC Western Regional Championships in the Masters division, and have earned their AKC Detective title, the highest AKC scentwork title available through the organization.